Land in Kathmandu and give the valley a few days, with the royal squares of Patan and Bhaktapur half an hour away. Then the country splits three ways. West to Pokhara, the lakeside town under the Annapurnas. East to Lukla and Namche Bazaar, where the Everest routes start. South to the Terai for rhino and tiger at Chitwan or Bardiya and the Buddha's birthplace at Lumbini. Two weeks covers the valley, one trek and one park. Come in October, November or March, when the mountains are visible.
3 Nepal city guides
Fun fact
Nepal is the only country whose flag is not a rectangle. Two stacked pennants carry a moon and a sun, and the shape is written into the constitution along with the geometry for drawing it.
Stereotypes, sorted out
The realityPlenty of trips involve no walking. The Kathmandu Valley holds seven UNESCO monument zones within an hour of each other, Chitwan and Bardiya are jungle parks with rhino and tiger, and Lumbini has monasteries built by a dozen Buddhist countries. Trekking is the headline, not the whole paper.
The realityThe Annapurna region takes more trekkers than the Khumbu, on routes that are lower, warmer and reached by road. Nor is Everest Base Camp a view of Everest. Nuptse hides the mountain from the camp, and the view people photograph comes from the climb up Kala Patthar the next morning.
The realityNepal was never colonised, and it shows. It keeps its own language and script, a Bikram Sambat calendar running decades ahead of the Gregorian one, and a clock set 45 minutes off the hour. The Kathmandu Valley is Newar civilisation, with its own language, festivals, architecture and food.
The realityThe 7.8 quake of 25 April 2015 killed almost 9,000 people and did real damage to the durbar squares, and the reconstruction has been going on ever since. The monuments people come for are standing again. The way to help is to turn up: tourism is a large part of how the rebuild was paid for.
The realityOn the main routes it means walking between villages and sleeping in teahouses, in a bed, over a plate of dal bhat. No technical skill, no camping gear. What it needs is days. Altitude is a scheduling problem, and the itinerary that skips acclimatisation is the one that fails.
Cultural notes that actually help
- Shoes come off at the door of a home and at most temples. Feet are the impure end of the body, so do not point them at a person, a shrine or the food.
- Eat with the right hand, and keep it clear of your mouth when you serve yourself from a shared dish. Anything your lips have touched is jutho and nobody else will eat it.
- Walk clockwise around stupas, chortens and mani walls, keeping them on your right. It costs nothing and everyone notices.
- Ask before photographing people, and expect a no at cremation ghats and inside shrines. The main courtyard at Pashupatinath is closed to non-Hindus, and that is a rule.
- Greet with namaste and palms together, especially with women and with anyone older than you. Public affection between couples reads as odd almost everywhere outside Thamel.
- Do not hand sweets, pens or rupees to children on the trails. It builds a habit of begging from trekkers. Give through a school, a health post or your guide's own village project instead.
Famous Nepali faces
Pasang Lhamu Sherpa
Kami Rita Sherpa
Nirmal Purja
Laxmi Prasad Devkota
Ani Choying Drolma
Narayan Gopal
Prabal Gurung
Mira Rai
Paras Khadka
Anuradha Koirala
Sanduk Ruit
Mahabir Pun
Tenzing Norgay Sherpa
Prithvi Narayan Shah
Bhanubhakta Acharya
Arniko
Manisha Koirala
Must-try Nepali food
Dal bhat
Rice, lentils, curry and pickle, refilled until you stop. The national plate, twice a day.
Aloo tama
Potato and sour bamboo shoot in black-eyed bean broth, thick enough to eat with rice.
Momo
Steamed or fried dumplings with tomato and sesame dip. Buff is the Kathmandu default.
Sekuwa
Meat marinated in ginger, garlic and timur, grilled over wood, eaten with beaten rice.
Sukuti
Air-dried meat, chewed plain or fried with onion and chilli. The bar snack.
Choila
Flame-grilled buffalo tossed with mustard oil, chilli and timur, served cold.
Thukpa
Tibetan noodle soup, the standard order once the trail starts climbing.
Yomari
A steamed rice-flour parcel of molasses and sesame, made at the winter full moon.
Sel roti
A ring of sweet fermented rice batter, crisp outside and chewy in. Made at Tihar.
Tongba
Fermented millet in a wooden pot, topped with hot water, sipped through a metal straw.
Dhido
Buckwheat or millet porridge pinched into soup by hand. Older than rice in the hills.
Gundruk
Fermented, dried greens boiled into a sour soup. The taste Nepalis abroad miss.
Bhatmas sadeko
Soybeans tossed with mustard oil, chilli, lemon and coriander. Arrives with the beer.
Chatamari
A thin rice-flour crepe topped with minced meat and egg. Called Newari pizza.
Bara
A black lentil patty fried until it puffs, often with egg. Breakfast in Patan.
Samay baji
The Newar festival platter of beaten rice, choila, soybeans, ginger, egg and aila.
Tibetan bread
Deep-fried flatbread with honey at breakfast or curry at dinner. In every teahouse.
Juju dhau
The king of curds: Bhaktapur buffalo yoghurt set in clay pots, firm enough for a spoon.
Chiya
Milk tea boiled with ginger, cardamom and cinnamon, sold by the glass on every corner.
Raksi
Home-distilled millet or rice spirit, poured at festivals. Strength varies by house.